Colon beats Mendon to win third straight district title

The Mendon Hornets came out firing on Friday night. The offensive barrage from the Hornets punched Colon right in the mouth and let everybody know, in a jam-packed gym at Colon High School, that they were there to play.

But despite a hot start, the Hornets were unable to keep Colon grounded. The end result was a Magi victory at home, 66-52, to win the school’s third consecutive district championship.

“I knew they were gonna give us their best shot and that’s exactly what they did. We took it on the chin in that first quarter,” Colon coach Steve Vinson said. “But we had a pretty good first quarter offensively as well. Danny (Schragg) had his boys ready to play tonight and he does a good job coaching that team. They were formidable tonight, they played well.”

Mendon posted 24 points in the opening quarter for the game.

“We came out strong, the nerves were there and you could see it, but we came out strong,” Schragg said of the Hornets. “I was impressed with our guys. We battled and we hit some shots.”

The two rivals traded blows on the scoreboard. Mendon got the ball inside with buckets from Gabe Haigh and outside shots from Noah Roberts, who hit a pair of 3-pointers. Luke Schinker knocked down five points in the quarter as well as Mendon was humming offensively.

Colon countered with a pair of triples from Dalton Williams. Simon Vinson scored on the interior as well with three buckets, both Maverick Downs and Justin Wickey scored four points in the frame.

At the end of one, Mendon led 24-20. Then things settled down for both teams, at least on the scoreboard.

Colon would get seven points from Vinson in the second, but only scored nine as a team. Mendon made just two buckets in its quarter, one each from Roberts and Ryder Gorham.

When the dust settled on the opening half, the two teams went back to the locker rooms tied at 29-29.

“We missed some bunnies, some free throws and I thought that helped take away some of our momentum,” Schragg said. “We’re definitely a speed team and I think those missed shots hurt us.”

Colon felt pretty good about being tied with the Hornets at the half.

“I told the guys at halftime that we had weathered the storm,” Vinson said. “We wanted to keep the pressure on them coming out in the third quarter. We wanted to do what we do.”

The third quarter proved to be an important one for the Magi. Dominic Mock hit for three buckets in the stanza, Wickey scored five points. Collectively, the Magi put up 20 points in the quarter, including making 5-of-7 free throws. The game was close, but a pair of free throws from Williams plus a triple from Wickey helped push Colon’s lead out a bit.

Entering the fourth, the Magi held a 49-37 edge.

The Hornets looked to get back into the game in that fourth quarter, but Colon always had an answer. Downs scored seven in the fourth, Wickey put in five more as well.

Mendon was just unable to overcome the deficit, the Hornets were out-scored 17-15 in the final eight minutes.Colon made 11-of-16 free throws for the game, Mendon finished 6-of-16 from the stripe.

Colon got a game-high 19 points from Vinson in the game, Wickey added 14 and Downs tossed in 13. Both Mock and Williams put in 10 points for the Magi.

“Nic played well for us, Mav Downs stepped up for us tonight. Connor Hetman played great defense in that second quarter when we needed him to,” Vinson said. “I was proud of him for that. I was proud of the whole team tonight, I think they played great.”

Roberts led Mendon with 14 points, Haigh tossed in nine. Ryder Gorham scored eight while Schinker put in seven. Jack McCaw also scored seven points while Dylan Cupp scored four points, Owen Gorham put in three.

Mendon ends the season with a record of 11-14, last year the Hornets won just four games.

“I can’t knock the effort from these kids, I am so proud of them,” Schragg said. “We butted heads at times, but we got through it. It’s the same old story though, you wish your seniors were younger so we could keep building.”

Colon, now 17-7, will play Lawrence in the regional semifinals on Monday. Lawrence (14-10) beat Marcellus 47-44 in the district finals on Friday. That game will be the second regional semifinal at Bellevue High School.

In the first one, Eau Claire (19-4) will take on Kalamazoo Phoenix (15-2). Eau Claire beat St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran 56-48 on Friday, Kalamazoo Phoenix knocked off Bellevue 53-49.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Colon beats Mendon to win third straight district title